In Georgetown (and, to a lesser extent, South Park) the Upzoning idea isn't really feasible.

To start with, the residential, single family homes aren't along the waterfront -- there's a significant existing buffer of industral & manufactuing along the Duwamish River already. The few blocks of residential is back further from that, closer to the base of Beacon Hill.

The proximity of King County Airport (aka Boeing Field) -- literally across the street from half of Georgetown's already very few blocks of residential area -- imposes high restrictions (re: airplane approaches & takeoffs) which, when combined with the pervasive airport/jet engine noise, makes the idea of building larger mixed-use commercial/residential buildings --like those seen on Capitol Hill-- simply a fiscally non-vialbe option. (Can't go high enough to make them affordablable or quiet enough to charge high-end rents)

And the lack of any acknowledgement of the coming Georgetown Wet Weather Water Treatment Station makes me feel like this group didn't really do a very good job of researching the specifics of the area they've attempted to make recommendations for.

It's difficult for me to take these recommendations as serious ones. Even the most conservative sea level rise estimates call for 1-2 meters by 2100. Given how things are going, these estimates may be far too low. But even with 1-2m of rise, how many billions will it take to defend this one area from 6 feet of water? And will it really be spent on these neighborhoods?

Maybe the republican naysayers will step up to the plate and start some real changes in Govt. regulations to slow down this trend...... Never mind, whatever was I thinking?

My favorite part of this story is how the 6 point plan doesn't address the two issues involved. The problems listed were sewage systems and mass transit. The bullet points address non-mass transit, government, government, bureaucracy, and helping industry adapt. None of this has anything to do with mass transit or sewers. Local committees will lack the power and funding to make necessary changes, and manufacturing industry adaptation will eat up all the rest of the funding.

South Park and Georgetown need help. Global warming is real. This? This is a bunch of "Don't just do something, stand there!".

I will buy all your waterfront property for $0.0001 per acre.

No. Don't thank me.

I am the Good Samaritan.

@5 If enough sane people thought there was enough of a real threat to warrant spending any time or money on that project, low lying property would not be increasing in value at the rate it is.

@3: Actually, read today's SCOTUS ruling on EPA emissions. Do your homework and stop blaming the straw man.

@7 you're not quite dumber than bailo yet, but keep trying (or leave forever, that'd be great)

"Help homeowners lift up their homes?" "Help business owners build berms?" It sounds like we're kicking off development new Venetian style communities. To be fully robust, new planning zone also needs to include the Duwamish industrial corridor, parts of Interbay, much of Pioneer Square, and the Central Waterfront, where two half $billion stadiums are located, and a third is on the way, along with a shiny new park that will also cost at least a half $billion each, not to mention the cost of retrofitting all of the POS and WSDOT ferry terminal infrastructure. Ivar's recent $20 million makeover? Toast.

And don't think for a second that all the industrial land uses located in the flat, flood-prone swath of land along the Duwamish can simply be sent to Tukwila and Kent. Sea level rise will hammer those cites too because of backwater flooding, not to mention freak storms that will unleash massive rainfall on the headwaters of the Green River, overwhelming Howard Hanson dam, which has the puny capacity to hold back floodwater generated in storms only up to the 140 year frequency interval. That was your grandpa's frequency intervall too--a far cry from our Brave New frequency intervals of the future in which the 100 year storm will become the five or 10 year storm. Imagine the Green-Duwamish River 50 or 100 years from now, backwatering further than ever into those cities on high tides, coupled with winter storms from hell that will overwhelm not only Howard Hanson, but also the rinky-dink levees these developer and Chamber of Commerce-controlled cities have demanded stay right on top of the river banks, instead of being set back to accommodate more floodwater.

Berms, you say? How can you build berms around all these places? What about tide gates on the mouth of Elliott Bay? After all, London and Venice have them. Well, you can't build a tide gate in a waterbody that's hundreds of feet deep. Hopefully y'all are getting the picture.

So how about if we stop selling off the right to drill in the Arctic for a mere $2.1 billion, while giving the fossil fuel industry a $10 million per minute in subsidies?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2…

We need a combo Manhattan Project and Marshall Plan to stop this juggernaut, or at least slow it down to the point where we can sort of cope. Planning to elevate homes in Georgetown and South Park is not an actual plan. It is whistling in the dark.